The stand-off in Washington: Negotiations and false equivalencies

Some suggest that there should be negotiations between “the sides” as if there is a middle ground between keeping the government operating and shutting it down. This is yet another example of a false equivalency. These positions, in short, are not equivalent. We have a law, the Affordable Care Act, passed by the United States Congress that was vetted by the United States Supreme Court, and, in its essence, found to be constitutional. It is now the law of the land. Some folks in Congress do not like it; they may not have voted for it; but, they are toying with nullification by failing to fund it.

If changes need to be made to the Affordable Care Act, just like with Medicare and Social Security which have been changed over time, they can be made. Failing to fund the law, though, and now the federal government’s operations, and, threatening to refuse to extend the nation’s debt ceiling because they don’t like the law, is trying to govern by extortion.

The American system of governance does not anticipate that one party can delay, amend, or repeal a law by shutting down the rest of the government. That is not the way democracy works and, if it were, then no law would ever be secure.

The House Republicans’ spin simply does not convince. This group of representatives has manufactured a crisis and is trying, desperately, to make its own actions the fault of the president. It won’t work.

The people want the government shutdown to end; they want the government to pay its bills. The sideshow that the tea party Republicans are creating, and that fellow travelers are enabling, is hurting people, costing money, threatening our economic recovery, not to mention undermining the nation’s credibility and its credit-worthiness. Moreover, it is creating a distraction and making it impossible to do what government needs to be doing.

The House Republicans are on the wrong side; the president is on the right side. He is upholding the law and trying to fund the government. There is no equivalence to the positions. There is no middle ground between right and wrong.